Airport noise insulation grant scheme a ‘band aid over a bullet hole’

A NEW sound insulation grant scheme announced by the Dublin Airport Authority where up to 400 eligible homes can claim up to €30,000 each to combat aircraft noise pollution has been described as "a band aid over a bullet hole" by a group lobbying for change.

The new grant scheme will cover sound insulation upgrades including acoustic double glazing, acoustic vents, attic insulation and chimney capping, as relevant. A reduction of at least five decibels in internal noise levels can be achieved through the implementation of these improvements.

The news was relayed to elected representatives via the DAA which says the scheme will "benefit eligible homeowners in areas that experience night noise but have not previously benefited from Dublin Airport’s existing insulation schemes."

The update states that this will include parts of Portmarnock in the east, to Bay in the west, and Coolquay in the northwest.

DAA said that homes in Meath sit outside the noise contour which would make them eligible for the mitigations that are available, but added that their measures are kept "under constant review with noise eligibility contours reviewed and updated on a biennial basis."

Residents in South Meath unexpectedly found themselves living under a new flight path following the opening of Dublin Airport's north runway in 2023. They told Meath Chronicle at the time how life had become a nightmare since flight paths had been revised, claiming their homes shook, windows and chimneys rattled the noise was deafening and there had been no engagement with them.

The Irish Aviation Authority, (IAA) this week released their submission in response to An Bord Pleanála’s (ABP) September 2024 draft decision on Dublin Airport’s night flights planning application (the so-called Relevant Action).

In September An Bord Pleanála proposed lifting controversial restrictions on night-time flights at Dublin Airport which will extend its normal operating hours by two hours.

This came in the same week that ANCA, the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority released a letter requiring DAA once again to submit a noise study, this time for its so-called “no-build” application to increase the capacity of the airport from 32 to 36 million annual passengers.

DAA wants to increase its passenger limit from 32 to 36 or 40 million but according to An Bord Pleanála, flights from the North Runway are not following the approved routes.

Originally, aircraft were supposed to fly straight for 9 km over empty fields before turning. Instead, pilots are making sharp turns at the end of the runway and just 400 feet above the ground. This affects 30,000 people with unexpected noise, violating Irish and EU laws.

DAA claims the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) told them to change the flight paths for "safety reasons." However, the IAA has now stated that they never required these changes.

Gareth O'Brien of The North Runway Technical Group that consists of engineers and pilots from the Ashbourne/south Meath area said:

“The IAA’s response makes clear how An Bord Pleanála and others have been misled by DAA’s often repeated claim that IAA required the flight paths to turn for “safety reasons”. Perhaps DAA should now explain the real reason they chose to ignore the Noise Preferential Route granted in their planning permission and use a short cut that dumps noise on 30,000 people?

"DAA is refusing to submit the required noise study to ANCA while ABP considers their night flight application, because it would reveal their flawed flight path problem. Without this study, their planning applications to increase the cap are blocked.

"DAA hopes ABP will confirm their draft decision with acceptance of their non-compliant flight paths for “safety and operational reasons”. However, with IAA directly calling out ABP’s gross errors and misunderstanding as well as debunking DAA’s safety claim, it is extremely unlikely that ABP’s decision would survive the inevitable judicial review.

"Dublin Airport's growth is at risk, endangering Ireland’s national economy because DAA has ignored planning conditions and environmental law to create a short cut flight path.

"DAA’s next step towards increasing the cap is obvious: fix the flight paths to follow the approved Noise Preferential Route."

Last year the The North Runway Technical Group there gave a solution to the problem which sees aircraft showering Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin and Ratoath with noise, sometimes up to 90 decibels.

They say that deviating from the missed approach track for planes landing on the south runway, would mean departing aircraft would not need to fly low over south Meath outside the permitted noise zone, which breaches the Environmental Impact Statement which formed part of the new north runway's planning permission.

"When they opened the runway the short cut was literally a power turn at the end of the runway that put an awful lot of traffic over Fingal and Fingal was not happy," said Gareth.

"The ‘fix’ that came in early 2023 was to move it to Meath so the only change they made in the flight path was to make sure that 100 per cent of departures fly over where 30,000 people live while climbing with full power and maximum noise making aircraft take a sharp 30 degree turn at the end of the runway which brings them out over Coolquay before they make their second turn which puts the noise over Meath and not over Fingal.

"Fingal County Council has refused to enforce the planning condition and Meath County Council has no standing because the runway is in Fingal so we are trapped in this bureaucratic mess.

"If you were trying to design a flight path that affected the most people possible you would struggle to do better that this."

In a response Graeme McQueen, Media Relations Manager at daa, the operator of Dublin Airport said:

"daa consults extensively with residents impacted by noise in all areas, including Meath.

"Contrary to the claim that daa is "dumping noise on 30,000 people", since the opening of the North Runway, significantly fewer people (around one third fewer) are now being impacted by noise than they were in the past. That's because when we just had our South Runway and Crosswind Runway, aircraft used to fly over very heavily populated urban areas of Dublin city. Separately, the latest data from the Aircraft Noise Competency Authority (ANCA) show a -38% reduction in the number of people "highly annoyed" by aircraft noise.

"The claim that "DAA is refusing to submit the required noise study to ANCA while ABP considers their night flight application, because it would reveal their flawed flight path problem" is wide of the mark. We have already engaged with ANCA on the merits of us responding in advance of a final ABP decision on the North Runway Relevant Action and daa requires a decision before it can answer many of the questions that ANCA needs an answer to.

"daa is very aware that airport operations have an impact on local communities and works hard to minimise this. Our job is to operate a major international airport and ensure Ireland has the connectivity it needs with the world. We have to strike a balance between this and the needs of those living close to the airport. That’s always going to be difficult, but we are constantly working to minimise the impact and listen to community feedback.

"To help monitor aircraft noise, we’ve installed 23 fixed noise monitors and three mobile monitors at locations throughout counties Dublin, Meath and Wicklow. These monitors help Dublin Airport to monitor aircraft noise in communities and understand the impact.

"While we fully appreciate that some people may be experiencing new noise since the opening of the North Runway, the mitigation schemes we have available are aimed at those most impacted and dictated by contours which are determined by noise data, which is monitored constantly by more than 20 noise monitors located in Dublin, Meath and Wicklow.

"Homes in Meath sit outside the noise contour which would make them eligible for the mitigations that are available, but our measures are kept under constant review with noise eligibility contours reviewed and updated on a biennial basis.

"Any resident looking to find out if they are eligible for any of daa’s support schemes can use our handy Maploom tool, which is available on the Dublin Airport website."